Salesforce (CRM) -) is partnering up with IBM (IBM ) -)in an effort to aid its customers' adoption of artificial intelligence tech and software. The two companies will collaborate with a group of shared clients in order to accelerate their "business transformations with generative AI."
Part of this collaboration involves the efforts of IBM Consulting to help guide these shared clients through the adoption and application of Salesforce's AI-driven technology. A component of this guidance involves the proper integration of Salesforce's different products.
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Clients will also be given the option of integrating their Salesforce products with IBM's own watsonx Enterprise AI platform, which will specifically help businesses gain greater access to backend data. The idea behind the collaboration is for clients to use IBM as a focusing lens with which to improve and scale their use of Salesforce's platforms and products.
"We see how the need to increase employee productivity while simultaneously elevating the customer experience with speed, personalization, and convenience has surged exponentially," Matt Candy, global managing partner, IBM Consulting, said in a statement. "Through our collaboration with Salesforce, we can help empower enterprise clients to scale and accelerate the adoption of generative AI that will support them to meet their business needs."
IBM's stock, which is up a modest 4.5% for the year so far, was up slightly in the wake of the announcement.
IBM's announcement points to its planned acceleration of "trustworthy" AI; the company later elaborated on this in a statement to TheStreet, explaining that, to them, trusted AI is grounded in principles of fairness, explainability, privacy and transparency.
IBM's watsonx platform allows companies control over their data and the model, creating an adaptable AI solution.
"With watsonx.governance, which will be available in Q4 2023, businesses can direct, manage and monitor their organization's AI activities and employ software automation to better mitigate risk, manage regulatory requirements and address ethical concerns," the company said.
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The partnership between the two comes a day after Salesforce reported second-quarter earnings of $2.12 per share, above analyst estimates of $1.90. The company also reported revenue of $8.6 billion, beating out the $8.53 billion expected by analysts.
Salesforce, which reported an operating margin of 31.6%, additionally raised its 2024 revenue outlook to a minimum of $34.7 billion, above estimates of $34.66 billion.
"We're now driving our AI transformation," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told Yahoo Finance. "We're pioneering AI for both our customers and ourselves, leading the industry through this incredible new innovation cycle."
The company's stock was up around 5% Thursday morning.
This partnership comes amid an environment where business executives are pushing AI technology over excitement around the productivity and cost-saving efficiency enhancements offered by the tech. IBM itself, after announcing a hiring pause in May, said that it plans to replace around 8,000 jobs with AI over the next few years.
This coming automation of the workforce is something that has many AI experts extremely concerned.
"The economists really don't know what's going to happen. Anyone who says they know what happens because of this, I think is not to be trusted," Kevin Baragona, the founder and CEO of DeepAI, told TheStreet in June. "There's never been a technical wave like this. You should not compare this to prior revolutions."
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